Blood
by Happiness's Deceit
Summary: Itachi is small and young and terribly exposed to the death that most adults can’t handle. After his first jounin mission, he has to handle the stress. But Sasuke won't let him be alone  for it.  Premassacre.


**Summary: **Itachi is small and young and terribly exposed to the death that most adults can't handle. After his first _jounin_ mission, he has to handle the stress. Pre-massacre.

_I do not own Naruto in a shape or form. Nothing belongs to me par the story below and instead to the creator(s) and respective publisher(s)._

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* * *

_

_The blood wouldn't come off. _

"_Hey, kid, are you okay?" _

_He clawed at his face. Why wouldn't it come off!?_

_Blood. Blood. __**Blood. Blood.**_

* * *

**Blood**

* * *

Uchiha Itachi had been assigned his first assignment yesterday as a _jounin_.

It was the moment of pride for the Uchiha clan. The genius of the clan was finally taking the final step—and after he became ANBU, it was only a matter of time before he made unit leader. It was a clear process that anyone could see. There was nothing else it could be; he was bound to be great.

Everyone knew, then, that the Uchiha clan was holding perhaps the greatest phenom in history.

Itachi was young, was strong, was the symbol of the new generation of _nin._ Surely he, if no one else, would lead the strength of the young.

Wordlessly, his subordinates idolized him; cockily, his clan's leaders praised him as the pride of the Uchiha clan and Konohagakure.

Uchiha Fugaku couldn't have been more proud. His son was the perfect _nin_, and this was the utter proof of it. He could imagine what would happen after this—he would succeed, bring absolute glory to the Uchiha clan, and then he would take the place of clan head. Itachi was bound to be great, and Fugaku was sure that the Uchiha clan would feel the repercussions of it.

Uchiha Mikoto knew that her first child was amazing. She knew it; she could feel it in her very bones that Itachi was going to be a wonderful _nin_. But she couldn't help but worry as well—wasn't Itachi going too fast for such a young child? This mission marked one, very obvious thing to her—it was finally time for his real exposure to death. Even _chuunin_ didn't require the _nin_ to kill…but as a _jounin_, it was a necessity.

Uchiha Itachi was not worried. He knew that all strong _nin _go through this place, and that it was an inevitability. He had to advance—he had to show them that he was _better_ than they thought he was—that he wouldn't be slowed where they were. He knew his parents thought differently. Itachi knew.

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't sure exactly why _jounin_ was so much different than _chuunin_, but he knew that Itachi was acting strange, and that was enough to make him worry. So instead of helping Itachi plan for his mission like his father, or packing him a snack like his mother…

The night before the mission, Sasuke snuck into bed with Itachi, and held his hand, and hoped that it would be enough.

After he fell into a deep sleep, he didn't feel the light squeeze of Itachi back, and he didn't notice that Itachi had spooned him to his chest, gently hiding he smile in the younger male's hair.

* * *

_It had been a simple mission. Infiltrate the lair, kill the target, kill all witnesses, and then let the clean up unit take care of the rest. It was supposed to have taken two days, tops._

_Why?_

_WHY?_

_**WHY?**_

_**Why had this happened?**_

* * *

"Uchiha Itachi is back!" 

The announcement startled Sasuke from his place between sleep and consciousness, and the child crept out of bed. If his mother caught him, he knew he would be scolded. So instead, Sasuke went around the side of the estate, and watched silently as they carried…

Carried?!

There was his brother, torn and bleeding and being carried on a stretcher, and Sasuke didn't know why, but he was bound down— Why would they bind someone who was hurt down like that?! Sasuke wasn't planning to be a medic _nin_, but he knew that tying someone down like that was bad, even if they weren't hurt like Itachi was.

So Sasuke, small and invisible to the elder clan members, ran to the body of his brother, and slipped his hand into Itachi's bloodstained own.

_**

* * *

**_

_**Children…**_

_Why…_

_Why were there children here?!_

* * *

The _nin, _who brought Itachi to the compound couldn't explain why he had suddenly calmed, even years later. Because Sasuke, the tiny _other_ child of the clan head, was invisible that night, behind the blood, and the screaming, and the utter hate that was being displayed. But Sasuke knew only that his big brother was hurting, and so he was silent and watched. 

He followed wordlessly as Itachi was dumped unceremoniously in his room and left to break; Sasuke kept that hand in his own, ignoring the red stickiness that his brother was covered in.

Sasuke didn't know what was going on, but he didn't want to leave Itachi. No one else was coming…wasn't Itachi the one that people respected? Why didn't they help? It didn't make sense, but Sasuke nonetheless, began to care for his brother.

He drew a bath, and gently sponged the blood off of clean skin; he snuck some of dinner out of the kitchen and spoon-fed it to his older brother.

It was strange, Sasuke knew, for the younger brother to be taking care of the elder, but it fit, somehow.

So while Itachi wandered from deliria and half-consciousness, Sasuke tucked him in and fed him and did all the things that felt _right_.

* * *

"_Mister," the child leaned forward, "you smell of blood."_

_He pushed the young girl away, a dagger grasped tightly in his hand._

_"Oh, so you aren't here for--?"_

* * *

"Blood…" The words came out garbled and Itachi's eyes turned glassy. "So much…_blood_." 

Sasuke wiped the sweat off of his brow as gently as he could, forehead scrunched in his attempt to remain steady on the edge of the bed.

"S'okay. The blood gone, see, _aniki_?" When he finished his task, he lifted Itachi's hand and displayed it before the older male's eyes. "Clean. And I even used Mother's cherry scented wash!"

Itachi let out a half-choked sob, before pulling him into a messy embrace. "Blood. _So much blood killed dead and no more life little girl boy child dead why __**why WHY**_!?"

Sasuke crawled into his brother's lap, pat his head once, and let Itachi hold him.

* * *

"_You like 'er?"_

_The man in front of him leered._

"_She's a bit young, but still good. You can take her…for a price."_

* * *

Sasuke sat on the end of the bed, a warm bowl of soup in his lap. 

"They made some new yummy stuff, and I think it smells like chicken, but you never know. Can you eat this?"

Itachi gave a half-dazed nod, and raised his hand. Sasuke handed him the spoon and raised the bowl in both hands.

"I'll hold it for you okay? 'Cause it's really hot and I'm scared I might spill it in your lap." So Sasuke stands hands raised with the soup as Itachi manages to eat half the bowl before putting down the spoon.

Then Itachi nods. "Done."

And Sasuke smiles, because Itachi is getting better, and he knows it and soon it _will all be okay again._

_

* * *

_

_She dragged him into the room with the older man._

_"You'll like it lots, promise!"_

_Then she removed her shoes, then socks..._

* * *

Sasuke was called to his father's study. 

"Father…" The younger male sat across from him, legs folded beneath him and chin down. "I…"

"Sasuke," Fugaku commanded. "You are to stop your caring of Itachi. We shouldn't baby him." His tone was heavy, but even then Sasuke could feel a deep sort of pain behind it.

Sasuke nonetheless protested. "But—"

"_Sasuke."_

He stayed silent.

"This is not a _suggestion_ from your _father_. This is an _order_ as the _clan head_."

The child bit his lip, and replied, "Then, I refu—"

"There's no need for that, Sasuke." The voice came from the door. Both father and child met the eyes of Uchiha Itachi, dressed in a dark blue _yukata_ and leaning lightly against the frame. "Come."

Sasuke wordlessly rose, light brimming in his eyes, and nearly skipped out of the room to his brother's side.

"Father."

"Itachi."

Then they parted.

* * *

"_The information is wrong."_

"_What?!"_

_"This...this isn't a yakuza hideout..."_

* * *

"You shouldn't let him bully you like that Sasuke. It's not good for your self esteem." 

"So you're okay now?!"

"Well," Itachi brought a hand to his forehead. "You certainly did a good job of feeding me, but I do need a bath. You realize that just pouring Mother's soap on my hands isn't going to make them clean?"

Sasuke looked at him. "But the bottle said—"

"Thank you, Sasuke."

He held out his hand, and their fingers intertwined.

* * *

"_Those sick bastards."_

"_Be silent. Our mission has not changed. But now…"_

"_Now what?"_

_"Now we kill everyone- that includes the children."_

* * *

"Report, Uchiha." 

"I have recovered, sir."

"And?"

"It won't happen again." _Never again_.

"How can you be sure of that?"

"I…have found something." _Something I won't lose._

"And what is it?"

A pause. "I don't believe it's in your parameters to ask."

* * *

One day later, Sasuke began to sleep in his own room again. 

Two days later, Itachi began walking Sasuke home from school.

Three days later, Sasuke was given fifteen days of late work.

Four days later, Itachi accepted his second _jounin_ class mission.

Five days later, he returned to see Sasuke in his bed again.

And he smiled.

* * *

A story told in drabbles? Please comment if you have the time. 


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